Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010),
Early life
Lincoln was born on August 6, 1930, in Chicago, but raised in Calvin Center, Cass County, Michigan. She was the tenth of 12 children.
She began singing professionally in
Los Angeles, California, and in
Honolulu, Hawaii, using stage-names that included Gaby Lee, before eventually choosing to be known as Abbey Lincoln in 1956.
Career
Music
Lincoln was one of many singers influenced by
Billie Holiday.
Lincoln's 1956 debut album,
Abbey Lincoln's Affair... A Story of a Girl in Love – with
Benny Carter, Bob Russell, Marty Paitch, and
Jack Montrose – was followed by a series of albums for Riverside Records. In 1960, she sang on
Max Roach's landmark
civil rights-themed recording
We Insist! (subtitled
Freedom Now Suite), "regarded as the earliest full-scale protest record in jazz", as historian
Nat Hentoff observed.
Lincoln's lyrics were often connected to the civil rights movement in America.
In 1970, the short film
Max and Abbey profiled Lincoln as a composer, vocalist, actress, writer, and activist, as well as Roach's creative partner.
Stan Lathan directed the documentary, broadcast on the television program
Black Journal.
After a tour of Africa in the mid-1970s, she adopted the name Aminata Moseka.
During the 1990s and until her death, beginning with The World Is Falling Down, she fulfilled a 10-album contract with Verve Records. These albums are highly regarded and represent a crowning achievement in Lincoln's career. Devil's Got Your Tongue (1992) featured Rodney Kendrick, Grady Tate, Yoron Israel, J. J. Johnson, Stanley Turrentine, Babatunde Olatunji and The Staple Singers, among others.[ NEA Jazz Masters Awards , Arts.gov. Retrieved October 31, 2015.]
Her lyrics often reflected the ideals of the civil rights movement and helped in generating passion for the cause in the minds of her listeners. In addition to her musical career, she ventured into acting as well and appeared in movies such as The Girl Can't Help It (1958), Nothing But a Man (1964) and For Love of Ivy (1968). Lincoln explored more philosophical themes during the later years of her songwriting career and remained professionally active until well into her seventies.
Acting
In 1956, Lincoln appeared in the musical comedy film
The Girl Can't Help It —for which she wore a dress that had been worn by
Marilyn Monroe in
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)—and interpreted "Spread the World, Spread the Gospel".
With Ivan Dixon, she co-starred in Nothing But a Man (1964), an independent film written and directed by Michael Roemer. In 1968, she co-starred with Sidney Poitier and Beau Bridges in For Love of Ivy, and she received a 1969 Golden Globe nomination for her appearance in the film.
Lincoln's television appearances began in 1968 with The Name of the Game. In March 1969, she appeared in Alice Childress's Wine in the Wilderness, the first of the 10-episode series "On Being Black" presented by WGBH-TV, featuring individual dramas written, produced and performed by Blacks.
In the 1990 Spike Lee movie Mo' Better Blues, Lincoln played the young Bleek's mother Lillian.
Activism
Following the assassination of Congolese liberation leader
Patrice Lumumba, Lincoln was a notable participant a group of African-American activists, including
Max Roach,
Rosa Guy, and
Maya Angelou, who burst into a United Nations Security Council meeting in a protest demonstration on February 15, 1961.
(Lincoln, Guy and Angelou had had a prior meeting with
Malcolm X at the Shabazz Restaurant in
Harlem to solicit his opinion, and he had "let them know that he was impressed by their activism against the global imperialism of Belgium and the United States".)
Personal life
Lincoln was married from 1962 to 1970 to drummer
Max Roach, whose daughter from a previous marriage, Maxine, appeared on several of Lincoln's albums.
Lincoln opened a national conversation by highlighting natural hair. Lincoln produced the "Naturally 62" fashion show, which featured Grandassa Models wearing natural hair.
In 2007, Lincoln had open-heart surgery.[ Notice of death of Abbey Lincoln, Thedeadrockstarsclub.com, 2010 July to December. Retrieved August 2010.]
Discography
As leader/co-leader
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Abbey Lincoln's Affair... A Story of a Girl in Love (Liberty, 1957)
-
That's Him! (Riverside, 1958) – rec. 1957
-
It's Magic (Riverside, 1958)
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Abbey Is Blue (Riverside, 1959)
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Straight Ahead (Candid Records, 1961)
-
People in Me (Philips Records, 1973)
-
Live in Misty (Kiva, 1973)
-
Sessions, Live with Buddy Collette and Les Thompson (Calliope, 1976) – live rec. 1957–1958
-
Golden Lady with Archie Shepp (Inner City, 1981; reissued as Painted Lady ITM, 1987)
-
Talking to the Sun with Steve Coleman (Enja Records, 1984)
-
Abbey Sings Billie (Enja, 1989)
-
The World Is Falling Down (Verve Records, 1990)
-
You Gotta Pay the Band with Stan Getz (Verve, 1991)
-
Devil's Got Your Tongue (Verve, 1992)
-
Abbey Sings Billie, Volume 2 (Enja, 1992)
-
When There Is Love with Hank Jones (Verve/Gitanes Jazz, 1993)
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Live/Music Is the Magic (ITM, 1994) – live rec. 1993
-
A Turtle's Dream (Verve/Gitanes Jazz, 1995)
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Who Used to Dance (Verve/Gitanes Jazz, 1997)
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Wholly Earth (Verve/Gitanes Jazz, 1999) – rec. 1998
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Over the Years (Verve/Gitanes Jazz, 2000)
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It's Me (Verve/Gitanes Jazz, 2003) – rec. 2002–2003
-
Abbey Sings Abbey (Verve/Universal, 2007) – rec. 2006
Posthumous releases
As guest
With Max Roach
-
Moon Faced and Starry Eyed (Mercury, 1959)
-
We Insist! Freedom Now Suite (Candid, 1960)
-
Percussion Bitter Sweet (Impulse!, 1961)
-
It's Time (Impulse!, 1962)
-
Sounds as a Roach (Joker (Jp), 1977) – live rec. 1968
-
Love for Sale (West Wind, 1999) – live rec. 1964
[According to the album credits it is a 1960 recording. However, the Max Roach Discography on Jazz Discography suggests a date "live in Paris, France, January 18, 1964", with the exact same line-up and tracks recorded. They were previously released first in Japan on BYG in 1971 as Max Roach and Friends, then as Max Roach Again! in 1979 on Affinity.]
With others
-
Eric Dolphy and Benny Bailey, Newport Rebels (Candid, 1961)
-
Frank Morgan, A Lovesome Thing (Antilles, 1991)
-
Bheki Mseleku, Timelessness (Verve, 1994)
-
Mal Waldron, Soul Eyes (BMG/RCA Victor, 1997)
-
Cedar Walton, The Maestro (Muse, 1981)
-
Steve Williamson, A Waltz for Grace (Verve, 1990)
Further reading
External links
